History

Marshal Pelinke is one of the most respected members of the Federation Department of Justice. That said he didn't begin his career in law enforcement. His skills began as a forest ranger and ecologist. He might have happily remained in his Amazonian jungles had it not been for his divorce at the age of 25. Deciding that the loss of custody of his daughter Pilar and his wife of six years was far too soon, he resolved to take drastic steps to change his life. Why he settled on law, criminal psychology, and departmental oversight can only be surmised as a fortunate luck of the draw. Pelinke is an excellent fit to the Federation Marshal Office. His unassailable calm in any crisis has served him well escorting prisoners, manhunts, xenohunts, inquires, and on the witness stand. He is well known for his patience, integrity, and sometimes brutal honesty. He can tell the truth with complete clarity or remain tactfully silent, but there is no middle ground. He intends to speak only the facts or truth or not at all. FDJ values this side of him but it has capped his career goals at the supervisory level since he's not diplomatic enough for the political posts in the Justice Department. Pelinke doesn't mind.

His career was almost ruined barely a year after starting in the FDJ when his ex-wife died in a fire back in Peru. Shortly afterwards a series of brutal murders from Medellin, Columbia to Savannah, Georgia culminated in the capture of the strangest serial killer ever to enter the Federation Department of Justice: Pilar Pelinke age 6. Marshal Pelinke had not seen his daughter in over two years when she was caught trying to kill a man who'd solicited her for sex. She became catatonic after her capture and only Samson's research into psychosis allowed her to interact with anyone again. Samson Pelinke began teaching his dangerously insane girl different languages in whatever time he could spare for her including French, Arabic, Quexua (Incan), Nahautle (Aztec), Navaho, Chumash, Mandarin, Malay, Romulan, Vulcan, and Tholian. The girl has a knack for language rarely seen and it soothes her to such a degree she's been released into Samson's custody. Her mental health is far from settled, but the presence of her father keeps the girl's psychotic episodes at bay. Frequently father and daughter prattle on in Chumash. Samson's claim is the language has no word for "sin" in it. They also converse in sign language now and again. However her treatment required far more drastic measures and Samson was forced to take Pilar to the Romulan world of Nesh for further treatment. The world is highly toxic and required extensive anti-toxin treatments to survive the environment. Unfortunately these treatments are irreversible and Pelinke is saddled with a host of inconvenient side-effects. His bodily fluids are highly toxic to normal carbon flesh. A drop of blood can cause a severe chemical burn and his saliva can do the same. Unfortunately this precludes intimate contact of any kind with anyone without the anti-toxin treatment and also sterilizes the individual. Also Pelinke cannot enter a transporter beam. The bio-filters would sense the oddities in his system and try to remove them. That would unravel Pelinke's RNA at a very basic level and would reduce him to a pile of worthless proteins before he'd taken three steps off the pad. About a year after arriving on Nesh, FDJ called Pelinke back into service. He left Pilar on Nesh in the care of the Romulan therapists.

Samson Pelinke is grossly ordinary. Friends call him Sam. The prisoners he processes daily admit to fair, even solicitous treatment by the laconic Pelinke. He can knock a man down, but he will not humiliate someone if he can help it. Entirely businesslike behind his badge, not one hint of misconduct has ever been in evidence with Pelinke. His stated philosophy on the subject of law is that rehabilitation starts with dignity. Even the fugitives he hunts down respect the man with polite reserve.

The gaping hole in Samson's life is his relationships with women. His laconic, brutally honest mouth is often mistaken for callousness. It drove his first wife away early in their marriage, and the few women he's seen since haven't lasted much longer than a few weeks. Professionally this side of Samson suits him well. Speaking the truth to female colleagues is valued in the FDJ and nobody's thought of him a sexist or racist. But when the lights go down and the hard edges need to soften, Samson Pelinke is not the man a woman wants to have in bed with her. He whispers no sweet sentiments, pulls no smooth tricks out of his hat. He's neither sentimental nor patient with those who are. While his ex-wife admitted Samson is an attentive, caring, even doting companion ("lavish" was the word she used to describe him in private) she stated her reasons for leaving him as "mental cruelty."

Samson Pelinke never lost his love of nature. He's an expert climber (has been since childhood), a first-rate survivalist (also since childhood), and his hobbies include botany, and gardening. He also repairs antique clocks in his spare time.